Information sources and professional ethics

PHRM1101 Workshop

Adam La Caze

Plan

  1. Information sources
  2. Professional ethics

UQwordstream

https://apps.elearning.uq.edu.au/wordstream/29271

Information sources

Learning outcomes

  1. Identify the different types of information that pharmacists engage with
  2. Access common information sources used by pharmacists
  3. Identify different ways information is presented to various audiences

Overview

  • How do we know what works?
  • Clinical drug development
  • Information sources tool
  • How do we select the right tool for the job?

Questions

  • Can I sell promethazine liquid to a 18-month-old child for a runny nose due to a cough?
  • What causes vasovagal syncope?
  • Are NSAIDs (e.g. ibuprofen) better than paracetamol to reduce pain in people with osteoarthritis?

Clinical drug development: history

A brief and selected history of FDA regulation
Date History
1937 Pharmacist kills 107 people with manufactured anaesthetic
1938 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires manufacturers to demonstrate safety
1960 FDA rejects new drug submission for Thalidomide
1962 FDA requires safety and efficacy
2004 Rofecoxib voluntarily withdrawn

Process

Overview of clinical drug development
Phases Population Purpose Success Rate
Pre-clinical Animal studies Assess safety/activity 5000
Phase I 20–80 volunteers Safety and dose
Phase II 100-300 patients Proof of concept 5
Phase III 1000–3000 patients Confirm efficacy
FDA Review process 1
Phase IV Routine use Post-marketing surveillance

Professional ethics

Learning outcomes

  1. Identify ethical decisions and ethical decision-making
  2. Discuss dominant ethical theories
  3. Reflect on what it is to practice pharmacy ethically
  4. Identify and debate pharmacist professional responsibilities in specific contexts
  5. Describe and defend what it means for pharmacists to be socially accountable

What do pharmacists do?

Wylie et al Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2020

Engagement tasks

  1. Arguments for and against voluntary assisted dying
  2. Discuss pharmacist responsibilities in specific scenarios

Discuss dominant ethical theories

  • Do your duty
  • Live well. (Be of good character)
  • Bring about the most good

Which ethical theories were employed to justify Covid-19 response policies?

Which ethical theory provides the best support for pharmacist codes of ethics?

Is it appropriate for pharmacists to refuse to supply emergency contraception?

Engagement task #1: Voluntary assisted dying

What are the arguments for and against voluntary assisted dying?

Describe and defend what it means for pharmacists to be socially accountable

What does it mean to be socially accountable?

Identify and debate pharmacist professional responsibilities in specific contexts

Engagement task #2

  1. Early in the pandemic many people were panic-shopping in pharmacies. This included purchasing multiple salbutamol (reliever) inhalers for asthma. The panic shopping meant that there was a risk that pharmacies would run out of stock of salbutamol.
  1. You dispense pain medicines to an older man with terminal cancer who doesn’t always have a place to sleep. You are concerned that his pain medicines are being stolen from him.
  1. You work in a community that includes people from a number of different cultures. Quite a few people from these cultures express concerns to you about the Covid-19 vaccine.

Any further questions